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February 20, 2009

Optimized Press Releases Keep Your Company's Name in Front of Customers

There's plenty going on in Intrapromote's new Press Release Department. We've written and syndicated a new branding and site launch news story for one customer, produced an optimized press release announcing Tahiti honeymoon vacation bargains, and chronicled a customer's charitable partnership efforts.

Intrapromote's 2009 press release writing and distribution plans deliver more ROI than ever before. By developing compelling news stories that highlight our customers' unique selling points and leveraging the syndication capabilities of PR Web we've built a potent and cost-effective marketing tool that drives targeted traffic to your site.

I'd like to talk to you about our optimized press release writing and distribution plans. It's important to keep your company's name in front of customers; especially now in this difficult economy. Contact me at lisa@intrapromote.com to find out more.

Posted by lisa at 2:46 PM | Comments (18) | TrackBack

February 11, 2009

Is Your Industry too Boring for Link Building?

So often as I am discussing link building strategies or the concept of link bait, I am faced with the same question:

"Aren't we too boring for all this? Who is going to want to link to us? All we do is (fill in the blank)."

The short answer is no. You are not too boring. Why? Because in every industry, every niche, SOMEONE cares about what you're doing.

The long answer involves discussions around target markets and their demographics, the various services offered, and industry trends. Since it's a bit complicated, let's take a purely hypothetical example.

Let's say we are dealing with a client who sells pens. Not too sexy, right? I mean, they're pens. Everyone can get them and you can pretty much get them anywhere. Even gas stations. Well, let's take it a step further and say that these pens are around $150 each. Why would people want to buy a pen for $150 when they can get 12 pens for around $2? That becomes the source of our link bait and link building campaign.

Asking questions like this is the next step for designing a campaign for a seemingly boring industry. What makes your pen worth $150? Can you write under water with it? Is the quality of the actual shell of the pen magnificent? Does this pen never, ever, in a million years "skip" when you're writing unless it's completely out of ink? Does it have some sort of indicator to let you know when it is about to run out of ink? What about refills? Do customers get them when they initially purchase the pen? How expensive are they? What type of ink is it? Has it been safety tested around kids? Pets? Is it child-proof?

Of course, this is all hypothetical. But when you hit on that one thing that makes this pen stand above the rest, you have your link bait concept. Branching out from there, you need to find the people who would want this pen. Business executives, writers, celebrities who sign a lot of autographs, lawyers... there are people out there who will not only love your product but want to tell others how great it is too. How about people who just plain love pens? Don't think they exist? I beg to differ. So, where do you find them? Blogs, social networks, resource sites, and other authority hubs will be the go-to locations to find these people. Simple queries will tell you where you should start researching. From their, the web of links that you are sure to find will also give you more avenues to pursue.

Now, what do you tell these people when you find them? You can do a myriad of things on your site and show it to your target market. Showing a video of all the amazing things your pen can do would be one option - Blendtec perfected this with their "Will it Blend?" series. How about a contest? An interactive widget? User-generated lists of what people want in their perfect pen? Top 10 lists?

All of these are good options. By really working to match your efforts with your target market, you will see the benefit as people blog about your pen, post links on their sites back to yours and help you spread the word about your magnificent pen.

My point is that no matter what you're selling or trying to promote, someone out there wants to hear about it. Combining elements like quality and differentiators with your target market and a catchy way to grab their attention will generate links before you know it.

Posted by angela at 7:07 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

February 10, 2009

Finally ... John Dvorak Exposes SEO Industry

PC Mag's John Dvorak has declared SEO to be snake oil. Guess it's time to close up the shop.

Sigh. Not exactly a new theme, but as weak arguments go, Dvorak's is particularly so. I'll sum it up for you in case you don't have the time:

• John gets bad advice about optimizing his blog.
• John's page views decline.
• John equates his bad advice with SEO practice.
• John picks another third-tier technique (tagging) and also equates it with SEO.
• John anecdotally proves that tagging is ineffective.
• John concludes that SEO "simply doesn't work."

But wait! He completes the formula. Don't forget about the final, disclaiming paragraph, designed to hedge himself against any criticism:

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's nothing you can do to get more attention. Much of what you can control is structural. If you have a blog full of fancy AJAX code, it's going to be difficult to index, for example. Making your Web site search-engine-friendly is one thing, in other words. But using stupid human tricks such as the long URL and tags to get more attention is folly -- and bad advice, from what I can tell. Beware!

In other words, real SEO isn't bad, but bad SEO is bad, but you don't get to know that until you wade through his lesson on why singular techniques, in a vacuum absent an overall strategy, are unhelpful. Come on, John. You're better than this.

Posted by erik at 7:58 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack